


The Missing Girl Case

by Nightalp



Category: Men in Black (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Kidnapping, Off-Screen Experimentation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 12:15:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8890426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightalp/pseuds/Nightalp
Summary: Agent Jay is bored - no interesting cases at all for two weeks. No Alien Overlord threatening Earth. No Alien taking all the kids' ice cream. Instead regular cases and paperwork.When he gets an interesting case it might just be more than he hoped for ...





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blahblahwhy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blahblahwhy/gifts).



> This is for blahblahwhy, who writes prompts the way I can only dream of. I really hope this is what you expected when you asked for a regular day in the MIB agents' life (I don't really see them having regular days so this is what happened ...)
> 
> I never saw the animated series, so my canon are the movies, though without agent El or Kay being neutralized/quitting.

The Missing Girl Case

  


  


If there is one thing about the universe that James has learned in his seven years working for the MIB then it is that there are idiots in every single last corner of it..

"Really, how does _anyone_ manage to try robbing a pawn shop in front of two MIB agents? _Especially_ someone who been picked up by us before? It's like you like our cells. _Do_ you like our cells? Because if I didn't know better I would think that you do, which, well, I guess if you like your room white and bright and bald then they are ideal."

A sigh came from where Kay was fitting the second handcuff on one of the criminals they had surprised right in their robbery attempt. "Jay."

"And then you couldn't go for any ordinary old pawn shop, of course. Nope, it had to be one owned by a Sirian. Which means you actually own us for keeping you lot in one piece and actually fucking alive, you know?" There was a reason Sirians where forbidden to participate in most fight clubs. So how could they have been dumb enough to-?

" _Jay_!"

Okay, that didn't sound too good. Actually it sounded like _If you don't turn around right now and fucking listen to me either the world it going to end or I am going to spit in your coffee next chance I get_ (Metaphorically speaking. James was almost sure that Jay wouldn't spit in his coffee, like, ever. But his look implied that he _could_ be  this nasty _a lot_ ). Turning to his partner he tried to look innocent, like maybe he hadn't heard him the first time—not that this ever worked with Kay. Even less when the one of the criminals he was trying to keep under control was working on getting to Kay's keys, which his partner couldn't prevent without letting the other in his grasp go.

Oops.

One step and he had the sneaky one grasped at one of his upper appendages (Arms? Flippers? Tentacles? How come the MIB had been around for so long and they still hadn't settled on aconsistent name for them?). "All I'm saying is - how idiotic does anyone have to be to get so much shit wrong?" With a practiced move—remnant from his time as a New York police officer which, yeah, did actually work on most alien scumbags, too, as long as they weren't some amorphous slime or lightrays or a fucking _bug_ _—_ he had the criminal braced against a nearby wall and worked on getting cuffs on both pair of his hands.

*Don't think I have to listen to an agent abuse me*, grumbled the criminal in Kay's grip, their deep voice betrayed that they were a Tch, one of the egg bearers of his race.

Rolling his eyes James opened his mouth to start arguing—it wasn't abuse if he just pointed out how dumb they had been, was it? - but Kay beat him to it. Spoilsport.

"You are of course welcome to file a protest with the agent on your case. And your own government, once you've been sent home."

Okay, so maybe Kay _had_ a bit of style. Sometimes.

  


It didn't take long for the agents from the Containment Crew to turn up and cart the criminals away. Afterward James looked up at the rising sun—indicating that it was just after 6 in the morning—and shook his head. "Did Zed ring through with something or can we get breakfast somewhere?"

Turning one of his vague tolerant looks his way Kay remarked: "I would have thought you had gotten used to Centurian time by now." A click of his keys and their car drove up to the kerb, the fake driver vanishing from behind the wheel when they started for the doors.

"Not yet", James allowed before folding himself into the passenger seat. Probably never would, too; a 37 hour day was insane, even if you had started your work life by being a police officer in New York. "Maybe I'll just take option two and go insane?"

"I don't see where this would would involve some _going_ with you, but please, go ahead."

"Just get a social life and you might actually understand the difference between insanity and fun, Kay." And give him something other to tease his partner about than his _lack_ of a social life, as uncommitted as it had to be. A thought crossed his mind and he could feel himself perk up. "Hey, do you think Thrilla might go out on a date with you? You know, the Thri'star woman who works over at Joey's Pizza, you know the one with the big-"

"I _know_ who Thrilla is. I also happen to know that romantic or sexual relationships with aliens fall under paragraph 453."

James rolled his eyes. "Next time you do your physical you should get your stomach examined. Maybe they could pull out the rule book you've eaten."

Was that a tiny curve of Kay's lips? James lived for these almost-smiles and he could feel victory dance a sparkling little Tango in his guts.

Or maybe it was just Kay's driving style; sometimes he couldn't help but wonder whether the car's advanced technology included some kind of shield-thing to keep cops from noticing it because otherwise he couldn't explain that they had yet to be stopped for going to fast, or ignoring driving manners like Kay did (fuck, there had been that one time when a cabbie asked Kay for driving instructions which was, yeah. Saying it all, wasn't it?)

  


Headquarters were as always—full of people running around in black suits making sure no-one brought anything here to remake Earth into a beautifully exploding star at some aliens' night-sky as well as more people ( _also_ in black suits and really, what was it with all the black? It looked classy for about the first three month and then you started to miss blue or gray or even fucking red; he would ask Zed about changing that up if he didn't remember very clearly Zed's response to his last comment about how boring their attire was – he didn't actually want to get stuck at sewer duty again) making sure the aliens already on Earth fucking behaved. Between them stood some of those very aliens waiting more or less orderly in line to be welcomed to earth. There was one addition to it this time—a countdown over the twin's console in man high glowing red numbers.

They were still at 2 days some hours; no reason to freak out yet.

Zed was already awaiting them in his usual chair, half-scowling in his usual annoying way. There was a big black ... _hound_ laying next to him and James needed a moment to remember Frank's remark about his cousin having applied for his former position as Zed's aide; obviously Zed had taken a look at the mutt and decided he was an improvement after Frank and hired him.

Not that not _anyone_ would have been an improvement after Frank.

Kay went to his chair with a nod and a greeting which their boss returned with his usual smile that looked a tiny bit happy-to-see-them and a great bit constipated.

Following his partner's example James led himself fall into the other chair, legs splayed open to show that he wouldn't let anyone run over him (even if Zed had a way of doing so anyway) then nodded towards the big countdown. "That our next assignment?"

Zed looked up, a bit distracted, then waved a sloppy hand at the clock. "No, that's just the Laserbeam of Death. I've put agents D and Y on the case and it seems they are going to solve it without problems." James couldn't help but grimace—yes, D and Y were good, but this sounded like it might be interesting. And after almost two months of doing only regular jobs _interesting_ sounded like something he wanted to be a part of.

Zed only waved his hand again. "Anyway, we have a far bigger problem on hand and I would rather have my best agents on that on.”

His attention woken anew James perked up. Could this be the interesting case he'd been hoping for? "You didn't get a lead on who smuggled those crazy pink pills, did you? Because I have to tell you, going against superpowered aliens gets old very fast."

Zed made a face as if he had bitten in a lemon—not that James blamed him. Those pink pills had so far led to three wounded agents and a sudden decrease in tourists and that was without anyone getting them to some of the really dangerous aliens yet. Their official name was Vishallain, which James suspected to actually translate in something very similar as what MIB agents had started to call it – space speed. Finding a clue as to where it came from ... yeah, that would be interesting.

But then Zed only shook his head, his mouth pulled into a grimace that was maybe even worse than usual. "Sadly, no. We have a missing kid."

Missing ... kid? … _Missing kid._ _W_ hat? Since when were they experts for runaways?

Well, probably since there was no-one else to deal with aliens, but what the fuck did that have to do with a runaway? Or … fuck, had some alien kidnapped a child? It wouldn't be the first time, but maybe, if it was someone from a known enough family … Shoving his hands in his pockets (one of the few things he hated about the thing – the suit pockets were fucking small) he leaned forward, watching intently as Zed elaborated.

Zed picked up his remote control and a holo pic appeared in the air between them, showing a young girl with reddish-brown pigtails and a big grin, maybe even a little bit cuter than your usual seven-year-old. She wore a blue dress and grinned into the camera as if it held all the best things of the world. Next to it was another pic, this one showing a much more nightmarish creature. It looked a bit like a squid, though with less arms and more tentacles sprouting from the head. Its skin was a grayish brown, glistening as if it had come up just yet from the ocean. _Cute_ … wasn't a word that came to mind when James looked at it, though the big dark eyes – no pupil, yet still very expressive – somehow softened its look enough to make it appear much less scary.

Having worked for the MIB long enough to be used to these kinds of pictures James didn't have to ask to know that it was the same girl. What threw him, however, was the name of the girl – and her parents – written right next to the pics. It niggled at his memory before suddenly sparking a strange reaction. "Is that ... is that the girl -"

"That you helped deliver on your first day as Men in Black? Good memory, Jay. Yes, that's E'releen. The whole family left Earth back then because of the bug incident, but it seems Redgick's luck when it comes to getting into serious trouble didn't run out, so they had to return here for protection. It was thought that they left all their enemies back out, but, well, now his daughter is missing. We got the call three days ago, once they figured that she hadn't just forgotten to call about staying over with a friend. Actually, her parents specifically asked for your help, but with you being on the other case I assigned agents B and W."

Swallowing, and for once in his life at a loss for words, James tried to ignore the cold creeping into his stomach, just to settle there in a heavy ball of concern. It wasn't like he knew anything about this girl but that her first action as a new earth citizen had been to burb all over him. Yet on the other side – seeing her had made him realize that he _wanted_ to be a Man in Black. Had reminded him that he had joined the cops to do good for his people and not only arrest the bad guys.

And now again he needed to do something good for the people, even if, strictly speaking, neither Redgie nor E'releen were his.

But this was a little girl that had been abducted, and her parents who had to be half mad with concern by now.

He couldn't let her die.

"What do we have?"

At least he could always depend on Kay.

Zed's face became even more pressed which made him look as if he needed a toilet very urgently. Pulling up some files between them he explained: "Not much. She vanished three days ago from school without explanation. Her parents called us six hours later after making sure that there was no other explanation and I send a team out to ask around. Nothing."

He didn't have to say more. Neither James nor Kay were experts but they knew enough that they could guess at the odds of getting a child back three days after they had vanished. "We are on it." And he would get her back or, alternately, make her kidnapper very very sorry about having ever looked at her.

Scrap that. He would make them sorry no matter the outcome.

Kay nodded beside him, sealing his promise.

It was good to have him at his back. Even if it was just because he had the bigger guns.

  


The agents Zed had send to take care of the case before were complete and utter idiots.

James stared at the report they had turned in and simply couldn't find a way to phrase it in any other way. They had done ... well, about everything but what they should have done. Sure, there was a visit to the family, and one to the school where she had vanished from. Several pages depicting Redgie's darker history that might have led to her kidnapping (actually, the only well executed part of this investigation had been their elimination of possible off-world kidnappers). But after that? A visit to a morgue, another to a hospital, a third to a bank office? _What the fuck had they been thinking?_

"I would think it has to do with the new spread of Vishallain's as well as the uptick in disappearances of dogs in the suburbs."

James grimaced; it seemed his mouth had gone away from him again. "I still don't know why he put some amateurs on this case. I mean, I've been told the MIB only accepts the best of the best of the best, so what are they doing here?"

Kay just send him a look. Probably reminding him that the _best of the best of the best_ that came in with him had been some stuffy assholes who would rather kill a few scary but harmless aliens than a truly frightening girl. But hey, he had thought these entrance exams were meant to weed those assholes out!

"You look as happy as a Mouldrin on his wedding day. Zed gave you the Missing Girl Case?"

"If that isn't my favorite fellow agent." Okay, so he liked Kay more – mostly because he wasn't quite as scary on most days – but he wasn't going to tell El that ( _scary_ , you understand?). Turning to look at her over his shoulder he grinned, even though he felt it turn out more tired than it should be at this time of day.

Her eyes narrowed a bit and she sat down on his desk, a cup of coffee in her hand. "That bad?"

"Going to my certain death by my soon-to-be widow might actually be less depressing than the shit they pulled here. I'm not sure how they even managed to get the suit."

"There are days when I wonder the same with you, too", Kay interjected dryly, then sighed and turned to El. "You wouldn't have heard something?"

El huffed. "Not yet, but I can ask around. Keep your phone on you - if anything turns up I'll call you."

"Good." And in the meantime … "The parents, then the school?"

"I'm driving."

"And what are you dreaming of in the night?"

  


Redgie, it turned out, lived in a slightly run-down house in a suburb to New York which was ... actually kind of a surprise. Not that James had thought much about how a family of squid-aliens would live but he hadn't expected ... _this_. Normal. Well, a little bit untidy, and there were some really strange things on the kitchen counter but ... when they turned up at the house there had just been a neighbor leaving, telling Mrs Redgie that everything would turn out okay, that her daughter would be found.

Mrs Redgie – who was actually Martha to her neighborhood and Masag in her MIB file – didn't seem convinced, but once she saw him and Kay turn up she actually started to look more hopeful. It made something in James' chest clench – having someone look at you with so much hope when you don't know whether you are worthy of it is … hard. It didn't became better when she came the steps down the little porch and hugged him tight and James had to fight off memories of how she really looked like, and where exactly little baby squid-aliens came from.

There was a photo on the mantelpiece when they were ushered into the living room, of a little girl with brown pigtails wearing a violet dress, grinning at the camera from under a flower crown, a gap in her smile where a tooth had fallen out. Fighting off memories wasn't exactly hard.

Once they had gotten Masag to calm down and sit on the couch next to her husband Kay and he took the other couch and started the questioning.

"So, you last saw E'releen on the morning she vanished from school? Can you tell us something about this morning? Anything you remember, however trivial, might be important."

It was Redgie who answered, his fake skin crinkling in worry-wrinkles all over his face. "There was nothing different to any other morning. Masag woke her up when she left for the office. I have to leave later, so I'm the one who makes sure E'releen eats breakfast and drives her to school. It was just as any other day ... we ... we picked up Jennifer from over the street – she's E'releen's friend, and we always drive her to school, and ... I dropped them off at the school, just as every other morning." Tears came to his eyes and James was treated to the view of thick tears falling from his eyes while he tried to go on with the story.

He was really really grateful that his wive sat next to him and cradled him closer. He wasn't _bad_ at dealing with people (especially compared to Kay who was good at small talk but would rather neutralize people than have any deeper conversations with them), but seeing a grown man cry … that was something else entirely. Especially when they were crying _aliens_ and he never knew whether watching them cry might lead to them trying to kill him. Or fuck him. Though he was quite sure that fucking wasn't what Redgie had in mind right now.

"I ... I even joked with her that she shouldn't be late again because of her club - she does gymnastics, you know? One of the best of the whole group and she's only seven! - and she laughed back and said I shouldn't be such a worry bear - that's what she called me, a _worry bear_ ... and I laughed and – and -" At this point he burst into sobs.

James waited for a moment, unsure how he should react.

Luckily he had Kay as a partner who pulled some tissues out of his suit pocket and offered them to Redgie. "We will find her, Redgie. You know Jay and me – we are really good at finding what people want to keep hidden. Do you remember when you tried to take off with the jewelry from the Tarkan princess? Couldn't stop me then. And no-one's going to stop us now, either."

Redgie looked up, his eyes red from tears, but it was Masag who said, her voice hard like a promise: "If you find our daughter Redgie will never do anything illegal again."

This at least was something James could respond to. "Ma'm, we would appreciate you both staying clean very very much, but no matter what you do we will do our best to find Eileen. And if I have to turn all of New York upside-down." If she was just alive still he would find her.

Maybe it was the heat in his words but Masag caught his eyes and returned his look with a steal promise in her own. She would hold him to it.

It wasn't something he was afraid of.

  


James didn't knew much about missing person cases – once they found E'releen he would have a word with Zed about getting a team of people who did; he never ever wanted to feel this helpless again – but he knew that most of the kidnappers knew their victims. Which meant that they made their way up into E'releen's room to search for anything that might give them a hint as to where she was, and who she was with.

(Learning that yes, the previous team hadn't bothered to do that, either, made James clench his hands so hard he thought he would end up with ruptured muscles. Once E'releen was safe he was going to have _words_ with those agents).

E'releen's room wasn't exactly the room he would have expected a little girl to have, but then he would be the first to admit that his experience stemmed from shitty movies, so maybe a room with painted blue walls and puzzles and posters hanging from them wasn't so unusual. Especially since they all showed dolphins and whales and, oh, slightly unsettling giant squids and really unsettling mythical ocean beasts, and the girl that had put them up was a squid alien herself who needed water for living, too.

Letting his hand pet a turtle figure the size of his head that rested on a pile of books next to her desk he wondered: "Do they need water?"

He ... didn't actually expect an answer, but then Kay had never been that good at picking up on rhetorical questions. "More than a human, but they are amphibious. And there's a pool at the back of the house."

Blinking he turned to Jay, intent on asking him how he knew (though with how often they had stumbled over Redgie in the last few years it really shouldn't wonder him that Kay had had to visit his house before), when he saw that he held a small book in his hands. There was a simple lock at the open side, and the pages were clearly filled in untrained hand writing.

"Is that ... a diary?"

"It seems her friend got it for her birthday. I thought it might give us some clues."

For the sake of the agents that had botched this case til now James hoped – he really, _really_ hoped – that there was nothing in there. Because if there was, and E'releen could have been free by now, and those idiots simply hadn't bothered to look ... "Any luck?"

Kay shook his head. "She wasn't writing regularly, and the last entry is two weeks old. If anything happened, then it was between then and now." With a sigh he surrendered the book to James, who skimmed through the pages.

His eyes zeroed in on the very first page, were a different script – a different girl – had put down a few lines about friendship and secrets and octopuses.

"Maybe her friend knows something." Because if they were close enough that E'releen had told her about what she truly was, then maybe she also knew about this.

Kay didn't look as convinced, but he nodded. "We are visiting her school next, anyway."

  


They left the house to Redgie's quiet sobbing - "... they played some game in the back of the car and I didn't even listen ..." - and made for their next stop, the elementary school E'releen had been enrolled in.

It was the typical little suburban school taken straight out of a teenager movie – tidy, with pictures and banners all over the place and smiling faces everywhere. If James hadn't known that people were the same all over the universe he might have thought that he had accidentally changed planets without noticing.

Of course that feeling increased threefold as soon as they were led to E'releen's teacher by the school's secretary and James realized she was -

_"Mrs. Edelson?"_

Her glare – familiar and terrifying even after all those years, send him back to his own school years. To trying to figure out algebra and geometry and why the fuck his maths teacher acted as if she was from a different star.

Which was, really, the only explanation he had for blurting out: "You know, I always thought you're from Venus."

And he really, really didn't need his partner's laser eyes searing holes into the back of his head to know that he had fucked up. There was a reason MIB agents were scratched out of human history, and it had a lot to do with keeping them and their people safe. Also, the Neuralizer only worked on humans.

Fuck.

Of course Mrs. Edelson hadn't become teacher by being dumb. Her eyes narrowed dangerously over her frame-less glasses (did she even need them?) while she stared down at him (why was she still taller than him?). "Little James Wolftamer. Thought you wanted to become an astronaut."

 _Of course_ she still remembered him. Him and that idiotic nickname he had been called in school, mainly because he had thought it sounded cool and _manly_.

He didn't need to see Kay to know his eyebrows were raised in this really annoying " _You let them call you what?_ "-manner. It _was_ annoying. He could only hope he would live long enough for Kay to forget that name, because otherwise the man would make sure it was mentioned on his gravestone.

Who was he kidding? Even if he lived longer than Kay the bastard would find a way to make sure he wouldn't be able to escape it even in death.

At least they had something different – and more important – to focus on for now.

Sending a slightly sheepish smile towards his old teacher he said: "Well, I found that I didn't have to leave Earth to meet aliens."

She huffed. He had never known how rare it was for anyone to achieve this kind of full-body huff before he had seen her do it, and he was still amazed as hell by it. Especially since it was accompanied by her no-nonsense look that could have made a t-rex quiver.

"At least they did send someone who's not a complete idiot this time", she commented, and James remembered that yes, she had actually liked him. In her own way.

With an abrupt motion of her head she invited them into the classroom where she sat down in her teacher's chair. Not especially willing to feel like a student again James hopped on the desk opposite her, while Kay leaned against it.

"We are really sorry for how our fellow agents have handled this situation", Kay said, and his bland tone reminded James again that his partner was a very smooth talker if he needed to be. "If you don't mind, could you please tell us, again, what happened that day E'releen went missing?"

Mrs. Edelson mustered him over her glasses, her glare not the least bit lessened. "Agent Kay", she said. "Heard about you."

"A lot of people hear about me", Kay replied simply, before crossing his arms in front of his chest.

It might have been a defensive motion for everyone else, but then most everyone else couldn't draw their gun from this position in 0.5 seconds flat, so James wasn't too surprised.

"Eileen", Mrs. Edelson said, startling them both with the use of her human name. "She had algebra with me in the morning, then English, and music with Falman. And then gymnastic, with Miss Fuery. Which is the last time she was seen by anyone."

"Was she any different? Did she seem scared, or angry, or nervous?" Okay, so Kay _was_ good at this shit. Maybe he had some training in this and just never bothered to mention it? Wouldn't be the first time.

"Nothing. She was like always – maybe a tiny bit more loud than normal, but then holidays are approaching – all the kids are louder these days." Cocking her head she added: "You might be better served asking her friend."

"Jennifer?", James recalled.

Mrs. Edelson nodded. "Jennifer Snyder. They are both in the gymnastic club, and they always walk home together."

That hadn't been in the report of their fellow agents (one of the things that hadn't been there) and while James had planned to speak to her anyway this just bumped that talk up on his list. "Do you know where she is now?" Because a quick look to the clock told him that it wasn't quite midday yet, and the girl should still be in school. Really, 37-hour days fucked up _any_ kind of time sense you had.

Mrs. Edelson looked to the clock as well before answering: "They are down the hall, English. Lesson should be over soon anyway – I'll walk you."

It turned out that they wouldn't even have needed Mrs. Edelson's help to find the girl. There had been several photos of her in E'releen's room, though all of them showed her with a smile and a light in her eyes that was now – unsurprisingly – missing.

When Mrs. Edelson motioned for her to stay in the room at the end of class she looked rather suspiciously at them.

"Are you from the police?", she asked, though she didn't wait for an answer before adding: "I hope you are better than the other officers."

What the fuck had they done that a _seven-year-old_ thought they were idiots?

Hopefully they could salvage the situation – if she thought they were as stupid as their fellow agents she might just decide to keep what she knew to herself. Sitting down in the chair across the aisle from her (fuck, those chairs were low. And small – half his ass hang in the air) he tried a reassuring smile that was probably more of an embarrassed grimace. "I'm really sorry for age- for those idiots." Couldn't really call them by their designation in front of an unknowing girl. Though maybe swearing wasn't that good, either, if the way Mrs. Edelson cleared her throat was any indication. Trying to distract from this he motioned to himself, then Kay, before introducing: "I'm Officer Smith, and that's my partner, Kenneth. And I promise you that we are going to do everything in our power to find your friend."

She was still looking rather distrustful, but nodded. "Okay."

Kay moved closer, though he kept his distance as well; better not to crowd her in, so that was good. "Can you tell us something about that day when Eileen vanished? Anything that wasn't normal, or people who acted strange or followed you. Even the tiniest hint could help us find her."

Biting on her lower lip she glared at them, obviously torn about talking to them for whatever reason. Only when Mrs. Edelson said: "They are good men, Jennifer. Let them help Eileen", did she finally nod.

"There ... after gymnastics, there was that teacher, Mr. Cunningham. He's from middle school, but he sometimes leads gymnastics when Miss Fuery isn't around. And he asked us to – asked _El_ – to go with him. I wanted to go with them – we are always walking home together, El and me, but he said it would only take a moment and that El would be back soon and I should just wait there."

James could feel his breath come faster. This was ... a lot more than a hint. A lot more than he had ever expected, actually. No wonder did Jennifer think the other agents were idiots. It was a wonder she did tell them at all, especially since he suspected they had heard this as well and completely dismissed it.

He could only hope they had simply believed her to be lying, with was something of a job hazard. Though how anyone could be dumb enough to think that a seven-year-old was a good enough actress to pull off the open distress and brimming tears he could see in Jennifer's eyes was anyone's guess.

"But Eileen didn't come back?", he asked carefully.

Jennifer nodded. "I ... I thought I heard someone calling my name, and I ran out, but I didn't see anyone anymore."

"But it was shortly after the end of your club?", Kay asked.

Jennifer nodded. A tear ran down her cheek and she rubbed at it, angrily, but there followed another one and then she was suddenly crying. "Will you ... will you find her?"

James knew it would be inappropriate to hug her, even though there was nothing he wanted more, so he just reached out and put his hand on the girl's shoulder. Catching her gaze and holding it he promised: "We will find her, and we will bring her back."

 _If she is still alive,_ he didn't add. There was no reason to distress the girl even more, and in this moment it wasn't as if he could face the fact that, maybe, the girl he had helped bring to life might not be there anymore.

But Jennifer was too young to hear his doubt, and he could see a little bit of hope return to her eyes. Could see her sit up straighter, find some strength in his promise.

It made him just more determined to find E'releen.

  


When they walked back towards the gate and their car – _Kay's_ car, as he so often pointed out – James pulled out his cell phone and called headquarter. Well, called El, because that was really the easiest, though putting her on speaker seemed a dumb choice as soon as he heard how frazzled she was (he could practically see how this would end up with Kay and her teaming up against him again).

"Hey, favorite agent boy", she greeted him. "You really have awesome timing, because I've never been busier."

"Something happened?" What could have El so ruffled?

"Agent M called in with information about a Vishallain dealer, and now everyone and their mother is running around trying to get their stock and everyone involved. How's your case going? Got something?"

Kay leaned closer and asked: "Agent El. We've got some new information, but we need someone to do a quick research for us, if you wouldn't mind?"

And there he was – the polite Kay that almost only ever turned up around El. It made James always feel left out – like watching two scary good people face the only other person on earth they actually respected. Two top-class chess players. No – Sherlock and Moriaty, which had the side effect of turning him into Watson. If he were even a tiny bit less self confident he might actually develop some issues around them.

"What do you need?" Suspicious. Something clicked in the background, then some yelling, before he heard El's voice yell something back – muffled; she had probably covered the speaker -, then a door shutting with a loud _clang_. “Sorry, some idiot turned up for those files that _they should have picked up a week ago._ ”

James felt sorry for whoever had forgotten their files in her lab.

At least Kay wasn't ruffled. “We know how it is.” _We do?_ "Anyway, there are some cameras at the school's entrance. Can you find out if the material is still available?"

"One moment." The sound of a clinking coffee pot, then some clicking when she pressed the keys on her computer (El was the only one he knew who hadn't switched to a holo computer or at least a holo keyboard and he loved this little tic of her). "Got it. What do you need?"

Oh, yeah, the fact that the MIB computers could hack into practically every human network was awesome, too.

"Monday, about half past three. Can you find us the license plates of the cars going past?"

A few more clicks, then: "There are three cars between 25 and 35. And ... give me a second there … mmmh ...yes, two of them belong to parents of school kids, the other is from a car rental." Bingo. "I'll send you the address."

"You are amazing", James couldn't help himself.

El only snorted. "Put your money where your mouth is and invite me to dinner after this case, agent boy."

Dinner with El? She was going to eat him alive. "Does that mean I do have a chance with you?" Go big or go home.

"Good try, Jay", she laughed, before ending the phone call, still chuckling loudly.

Looking at his partner James asked: "Why is she only ever asking me, when she doesn't even want to date me?"

Kay looked way too amused. "Maybe she's still waiting for you to figure it out."

Yeah, and this wasn't ominous enough. Changing the topic – because this one could only ever lead to tears – he asked: "So we have a rental car and a missing teacher."

Because it had turned out that Mr. Cunningham had called in sick the day after the kidnapping – and why the fuck hadn't this flagged? - and hadn't been seen since then. "Do we separate or tackle them one after the other?"

"No separation", Kay decided without hesitation. "I don't like what we turned up so far, and I don't want to risk you getting yourself into it too much and going missing, too." Which might have been touching, though Kay had to ruin it by adding: "I already had to break in one idiot partner – I would rather turn in my suit than train another."

"Yeah, love you too, old grouchy." James really did, but don't tell anybody. "So, the teacher first, then the car rental?"

Kay nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

  


The teacher turned out to be a dead end, in the truest sense of the word. Looking down at where the blood had crusted around the bullet hole in the middle of his forehead James wondered whether he should actually feel sorry for a man who had helped kidnap a young girl under his protection and gotten shot by his accomplices.

Well, he couldn't find any pity in him at least, and remembering the devastation on the faced of E'releen's parents, the tears in Jennifer's eyes – remembering E'releen herself, both as the little cute squid in his hands and the girl with the gapped smile on her parent's mantelpiece – he wasn't about to question his morals over this.

"There is nothing here." Kay approached him from the bedroom where he had searched for any clues, while James had gone through the living room. "I called El to go through his finances and telephone list, but it seems they were good at keeping it a secret."

_Dead end._

Feeling the hesitant hope that had come over him after talking to Jennifer drain away left James with a dark weight sitting in his chest. He didn't want to go to E'releen's parents and tell them that he couldn't find their daughter. Didn't want to think about not finding E'releen. He had never met the girl, had no idea as to her character, but ... she was _a little_ _kid_. And he would rather cut off an arm than let anyone hurt her.

The front door to the apartment clicked open, and when he turned towards the corridor James could see three of the guys from the Containment Crew, obviously here to make sure every clue that might connect Patrick Cunningham with aliens would be wiped out before he was carted to the morgue. Depending on his family situation he might even just ... vanish into nothing – it was always the easiest way, and it wasn't as if they could openly accuse E'releen's kidnappers without risking the public finding out about her true identity.

At least they still had one more hint, before they had to go back to the drawing table. And with a bit of luck they would find more at the car rental.

  


James could feel Kay's gaze on him but he resolutely stared out of the window nby his side. Wasn't it bad enough that he had to endure the psychologists the MIB shoved at their agents? Why did he also have to suffer a too observant and meddlesome partner?

"So", Kay made when they stopped at a traffic light, and James braced himself for whatever there was to come.

He didn't actually expect him to say: "James Wolftamer."

Blinking stupidly at the street outside he tried to switch tracks. "Oh."

"I wasn't aware that there were any wolfs around your home town."

He could only hope that Kay couldn't see how his cheeks burned. "I was eight, some boys and I were playing ball and when the dumb thing got into a garden I was stupid enough to go after without checking whether there was a watch dog or anything." (There was. The damn thing had been as huge as a horse to his kid's eyes, and scary enough to be Red Riding Hood's evil wolf). "I was lucky that the owner had seen what was happening and came to rescue me. She was really nice when I told her that I was only there for my ball, and taught me how to get past Snowball." (Because scary dogs needed cute names, yes?) "Some of the boys started calling me that, and by the time I moved to middle school it had gotten stuck."

Kay looked at him out of the corner of his eyes. "And you liked it." He sounded way too amused by it.

James rolled his eyes. "I was eight. Being called Wolftamer sounded cool, and was way better than some of the other names." There were a lot of names kids got called when they came from a family like his.

Maybe Kay heard his unspoken thought, for he only nodded and didn't ask anymore questions until they reached their goal.

Once there he pulled into one of the parking spot, then led James up to the door with a short: "Let me do the talking."

James rolled his eyes again. It wasn't as if he was an amateur.

Still, he did as he was told and watched as Kay walked up to the guy behind the counter, pulling out his official looking (and pretty fake) badge for the man to see. "I'm Officer Parker, that's Officer Young" (yeah, very nice of you) "We are searching for someone who hired a car from you."

The man looked slightly uncomfortable. "We are ... I don't know if I'm allowed to give out addresses ..."

Without a court order? The man was completely right to be uncomfortable, though James was actually quite astonished to see him put of some resistance. Most people folded as soon as they saw the badge.

Deciding they needed to haul out the big guns he put on his best smile – the one that said sympathy and I'm your friend – and bowed around Kay, offering: "A little girl has gone missing. Getting us the info will help us help the girl. You'll be a hero, Max." He hoped he'd read that correctly – the name plate was really smeared.

But at least it had done what it was supposed to do – not that James had expected anything else. Pointing out that kids were missing hit the nerve of most people.

"I have a daughter myself", Max confided into them while they waited for the geriatric computer to print out their pages. "When I think about anything happening to her ... it just makes me so angry." He growled a bit to emphase his anger.

James wasn't quite sure what to make of this. On one hand Max was doing what they wanted him to do, and he was helping them the way they needed. On the other hand ... this really looked stupid.

Finally he settled on: "We'll do what we can, Max. Thank you for your help."

"Anytime, Officer. Just call Phoenix Car Rental, I'll be here to help you."

"Thank you, Max. I'll remember that." He smiled and shook his hand, while Kay put on his sunglasses and took his neuralizer out of his jacket.

They couldn't leave Max with any memories about missing girls that never made any news. It was a very slight chance that he would care enough to investigate this, but they couldn't chance it. Too big a risk for the MIB, and the aliens living as refugees on earth.

Putting on his own glasses he glanced over the files Max had given them while Kay swept the man's memories. They were just what you would expect – contract of lending a car, the car's specifics, a whole stack of rules. And then, attached to the last page, the copy of the driver's license.

Freezing he stared down at the photo of a man in his early fifties, balding and wearing a mustache. His eyes weren't really visible under his heavy eyebrows, but James knew all too well that they were of the most piercing blue, and that there was a tooth missing behind the tightly pressed lips.

Johnny December.

Blinking fast he tried to remember what he knew about this man, from back, in another lifetime.

When Kay came back to him he took his glasses off, almost without noticing, and pushed the page with the photo at him.

"Johnny December. Hired killer, though he's not exactly one of the high profile cases. Works for everyone who's got the money. He's been arrested several times, but so far no-one managed to convict him of anything."

Kay didn't look at him while he asked: "New York's police department had anything to do with him?"

James snorted. "We had two murders we are sure are on him, but he's like a wizard when it comes to vanishing any clues. And without enough proof and a watertight alibi ... never even arrested him." Though the MIB didn't actually work that way, did they? And it might be somewhat unsettling sometimes, that there was a whole department without any supervision, but in this case ... and it would be oh so satisfying to put December out of his game.

Kay obviously knew him too good because he pinned him with an impressive stare. "We will not go around and play lone rider. Our mission is to find E'releen and to make sure that her kidnappers are either put behind bars or don't remember enough anymore to try again."

James pulled a grimace. "Anyone ever told you that you are a spoilsport?"

"You. Constantly."

He really hated how his partner could shut him down with just two dry words.

  


They had just reached their car when James's cell phone rang. Surprised at hearing El's ring tone – the Star Sars theme song – he pulled it out, then let himself fall into the car next to Kay and put her on speaker again.

"Found something in Cunningham's files?", he greeted her.

A snort came back. "A lot, and nothing good, but it's not going to help find Eileen. Though, honestly, after going through his computer I'm not even sure he could have helped, even if he had been alive. I don't think they told this idiot much about the case."

"But?" El would definitely call them just to mock him, but since she hadn't done so yet he could only assume that there was more to it.

And yes, her voice turned rather smug when she continued: "But I looked up Squid Aliens, the race E'releen belongs to. "

"And?"

"And it seems their physiology is surprisingly similar to a human's, considering how different they look. Which made me dig deeper and, voila, do you know where I ended up? The Daily Dose."

Which sounded so much like a medicine magazine that James automatically assumed that it was one. "They brought an article on aliens on earth?" It wouldn't surprise James if he hadn't heard – like Kay he tended to read the more obscure newspapers, and medical magazines had never appeared on his radar at all.

"They brought an article on a new active agent that could very well end up curing diabetes. The paper is a few weeks old, and they must have run some tests already or they wouldn't be about to go into public testing, but ... I remembere the structure of the molecule, and it's the same as a digestive enzyme of a Squid's."

"And that's important enough to kidnap someone?"

He could practically hear her rolling her eyes. "Let's just say that curing diabetes is something that is going to make a very few persons a lot rich, and a lot other persons part from a lot of money they are currently making."

And since December would most likely turn out to be a dead end, again (though less literally this time) they had no other clue right now anyway.

Looking over at his partner he saw him nod slowly. "There might have been more kidnappings that we weren't aware of. Just one more, and of an illegal immigrant, might be enough to explain this, and why we never heard anything."

So Kay agreed with El, which meant ... "Which company?"

"Beetles Health Company", El answered promptly. "I already copied down the blueprints and the address and send them to your phone. Should take you no more than thirty minutes to get there, even with the traffic. I'll meet you there."

James could feel his eyes grow wide. "Meet us there? Who said anything about you joining us?"

"I did", El returned without hesitation. "Because I've done all the work, here. And I need some field experience – if I had known that Zed would put me into the labs I could have stayed in the morgue. Less annoying phone calls there."

"Trying to collect experience points?" Which ... actually wouldn't be so bad. Out of the whole MIB there were few agents he trusted his back to, and El had made this list somehow even before wearing the suit.

Her ability to hit on him to get away from a terribly dangerous bug, not to mention her blasting said bug into a hundred thousand pieces only an hour later, might have something to do this.

El snorted through the line. "You are going to try bullshitting your way into a pharmaceutical company. Just be happy that you have someone who doesn't have to pretend to understand what is going on there."

  


El waited indeed for them only a street away from the company, and when Kay stopped the car she stepped out to lean against the hood and wait for them to come over.

Once they were close enough to talk without having to scream over the traffic she cocked her head a bit. "So what's the plan?"

Kay and he had talked about this on their ride over. "There is a lab on the second underground floor with a lot of security measures. Assuming that it is were they work on this new medicine"

"Fluor-tetra-benzdiazen-"

"Yes, that. So, assuming that's where they are working on it it would make sense to keep Eileen there, yes? They already have the high security, and it keeps people from asking why any of the researchers are commuting between the lab and a different part of the building."

"If she is still alive." That's what James loved about his partner – always so optimistic and a ray of sunshine.

El shook her head. "It would make more sense to keep her alive. Obviously they are not quite sure that everything works – why else would they risk kidnapping another specimen if they already had everything they need? - so that means she is still somewhere. And the lab actually does make sense."

She could have sounded less surprised by this, in James's opinion. "Anyway", he said, trying to keep his irritation out of his voice. "The plan is to go down, you distract the researchers while Kay and I free Eileen, then we neuralize the fuckers and head out again."

"Shooting only if necessary", Kay cautioned.

El snorted and pushed away from her car. "Sure. Give me your weapon."

The last was directed at James who blinked and put a protective hand on his Mantis 05. He had worked hard until Kay had allowed him to actually use it in the field, and he didn't intend to give it up without a damn good explanation. "Why should I?"

"Because I would guess that someone needs to cover our back, and you'll be too occupied with the girl to be of any use there."

"Why do _I_ get her?" Not that he was actually complaining, but he would have liked to be asked.

El just shoot him a look from under raised brows. "Do you see anyone else here taking care of her?"

Well, actually ... no. El had chosen the morgue after realizing that being a doctor to _living_ humans meant they might actually talk back to her, and Kay was _Kay_. Even at their nicest James was still a better person for this task than either of them.

"Fine", he groaned and pulled his weapon to offer it to El. "Can you even shoot with this?"

She grinned. "Oh, how hard can it be?"

And James knew that all agents were required to learn how to shoot with all the weapons at the MIB's disposal, but he still could only too easily imagine her shooting someone or something she wasn't supposed to.

At least the collapsing building wouldn't be his fault this time.

  


He was half-expecting their plan to fail the moment they walked through the front door, mostly because that happened to most of their plans and, you know, no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy, but the hasty copies of an inspection letter concerning the safety of the work areas they had printed in the car (thank the fuck for the invention of a printer small enough that it could be installed in the car) actually held up to the responsible people's scrutinizing. And James would never be caught admitting it but El being with them and throwing out questions that sounded as if they might actually be genuine was at least half the reason no-one looked too close at them.

(Well, and maybe the suit. Black was actually looking respectable enough to work for this.)

(He still missed the color.)

Of course they couldn't simply ask for access to the right lab, which meant they had to suffer through all the labs in the first underground floor first which ... sucked. Mostly because it meant that James had to listen to El's chatter with the staff executive while he poked his head everywhere, pretending to search for possible work hazards. Just because he was good at bullshitting didn't mean he enjoyed it if he had to do it for so _long_.

Catching Kay's eyes while they were both inspecting a work station, outfitted in mask and something that looked like an OP cap to prevent them from catching anything or bringing anything into the labs, he couldn't help an eye roll at their getup. At least his partner looked about as happy about this as he did himself, though their was a glint of amusement in his eyes whenever he looked over at El who was clearly enjoying herself.

Finally they were through and went down to the lower floor were they were subjected to another body search. When James raised an eyebrow in an _"again?_ "-fashion at their guide El reached over and knocked him at the head, shooting the man an apologizing gaze. "He's new and he really should know better. We are of course happy to follow your regulations. We all know how sensitive the information in those labs is, and how much you have to fear spies from other companies."

Oh, yeah, that. Not that they should fear them for spying ...

Casting a glance to the thick door that, hopefully, was all that they needed to go through anymore before they could finally free E'releen he swallowed, then stepped over to the man who was impatiently waving him over.

There were stones sitting in his chest, weighing him down and competing with his nerves as to who could make him be sick faster. Clenching his fists by his side he tried on a smile (and hoped it didn't look to forced so the security wouldn't think they were here to spy on them after all and throw them out, so close to their goal) while hoping that E'releen was here, was okay – as okay as a kid could be when she was being kidnapped – and that they were here in time to save her.

By the time the security people declared them ready to go – and he still had no idea how both Kay and El had hidden their guns; sure, they were small but not _that_ small – sweat trickled down his back and he was seconds away from vomiting all over the floor. At least his smile seemed to still be convincing enough for their guide and the guards to let them in, though Kay was throwing him a worried look. Well, being his long-time partner gave him certain advantages, though James couldn't remember ever feeling this stressed-out over a case before.

But then normally it was only his life, or the whole world being threatened. Not a little girl that might just have been subjected to unspeakable horrors in an experimental lab just because she was what she was.

The lab behind the door was as white and shiny as the ones before, and James had almost gotten used to the tiny pressure of air when the doors opened to let them in. Men and women in lab coats and masks looked up – no wonder they had been asked to change again -, but when their guide just waved at them they continued working, though James could feel their curious glances in his back.

El again moved around, asking questions of several of the researchers, while James and Kay set out to search for possible hiding places for a little alien girl. Which was actually a really good work separation – just thinking that at least some, if not all, of these people in here might be using a child – or any sentient being, actually – to further their experiments left bile in his throat and a violent urge in his gut. How El could stomach talking to them like nothing was happening was beyond him (but then Kay had often enough told him that he was no acting material, so there was that).

There was a doorway leading deeper into the labs, and James had to force himself not to race for it and chance someone panicking and hurting or killing E'releen. So far they were operating under the assumption that she was too valuable a resource to kill over a rather regular inspection, especially since they knew for sure that her parents were the only other two members of her species currently on earth, which meant whoever had ordered her kidnapping should know, too, that they couldn't simply get more.

To give himself something to do he pulled his Tri-Pulse-Meter from his pocket and pointed it randomly into the room. Their guide was shooting him a disgusted look and there were suspicious looks from under some caps, but no-one stopped him. Vaguely he remembered El telling the security guys that it was meant to measure radiation and other emissions, and after they had made sure that it really had no camera they had let him keep it (it made him wonder what they were working with in here that they thought he might need to collect that kind of data; at least if he turned Hulk he had a sub clause in his contract making sure the MIB had to try and change him back).

Anyway, the thing was actually nothing more but a very advanced way of listening for heartbeats that could not only distinguish between different species, but also different individuals of one race. Which, yeah, not really needed right now.

Or at least James hoped that they didn't have more than one alien around here.

There were no ominous hearts around here – at least not still beating ones and that was a thought he really didn't want to have – so he tried to calm his trembling hands by poking his head in anything and nodding wisely or shaking his head whenever he needed to feel the researcher's worried looks until El finally finally walked on.

The second room looked almost exactly like the first, just with less researchers and more microscopes, but this time a light turned on at the bottom of his instrument which meant that there _were_ possible alien heartbeats near, though it couldn't yet settle on a specific race.

James felt his own heartbeat start to race. If there was a heartbeat, then it meant that E'releen was still alive, and that meant he was still in time to rescue her.

The rush of relief actually weakened his knees so much that he had to brace himself at a table to keep from folding down. Swallowing hard he closed his eyes, took a deep breath to calm himself down. He needed to keep his wits about it still – once E'releen was back with her parents, or at least out of the building and in their car, _then_ he could collapse and fucking faint if he actually needed to (not that he wanted, or ever had, even through assisting in a fucking alien birth, but there was a first thing for everything).

Kay appeared next to him, shooting him a worried glance. "Everything okay?"

Dredging up a smile to both calm down his partner and mislead the scientist working at the table – who looked more than a bit freaked out – he managed: "I think it's the steak I had for lunch. Really good steak, and they put sooo many onions on it, it's _really_ tasty, but you know how I am with onions and I think I just have a really big fart-"

"Thank you, I'm happy enough to know that you are not going to fall down any moment." Kay looked rather annoyed and James caught himself hoping that he had seen the display in his hands – not that he minded annoying the heck out of his partner, but he preferred to do it intentionally.

At least it had left the researcher with an equally disgusted look, so there was that.

Continuing his walk through the room he tried to pinpoint where the heartbeat was coming from, only to be led to a blank wall on the left. There was no indication that it might be anything but a wall – without any papers stuck to them all the walls were bare; James suspected regulations that he couldn't care less about – but there was a surprisingly big space free of anything in front of it which hinted for there being a doorway.

More for the sake of his partners he looked back to his guide from where he had wandered over to the wall and asked: "I'm getting some really strange readings here." Or, well, actually not that strange, because he was finally near enough to the machine to decide that yes, this was a squid's heartbeat, which meant E'releen was behind this wall/door and he could feel his heart beat double as fast as normal just at the thought of getting her back safe. "What is behind the wall?"

Their guide didn't look ruffled – he obviously had no idea about what was going on in this lab – but by their slightly freaked-out reaction James could pick out exactly who knew about the alien girl in their closet. Keeping himself from baring his teeth he just noted them down to deal with later.

"There is nothing back here, just lab B-4." He paled a little bit, making James wonder again what exactly they were up to down here (though not enough to actually wander over and find out. If they wanted to create a Hulk over there; that was their problem – he was busy dealing with aliens already).

El, obviously as done with their acting as James, simply abandoned her current discussion partner and walked over. "Let's find out."

"What are you -?" Guide-guy started to ask. Then, when she pulled out James' gun from inside her borrowed coat (how had she managed to conceal it there?), he squeaked and stumbled out of her way.

James was similar freaked out, though for a rather different reason. "El, you can't just -"

El cut him off by flipping the switch at the side of the gun, then pointing it at the foot of the wall in front of him and proceeded to laser-burn a doorway into the wall.

James ... stared. "Why didn't I know that my gun can do this?"

"Because you never listen, and, it seems, you also didn't read the manual I gave you for it", Kay just commented dryly, before stepping up next to him, pulling out the neutralizer and turning to face the gobsmacked scientists behind them (James couldn't actually blame them for their surprise – _he_ had been surprised by the past few seconds and he had been with the MIB for seven years). Anyway, he only had a moment's notice to pull out his own sunglasses and putting them on before Kay activated the neutralizer, leaving them with a lab full of open-mouthed scientists.

Well, and a cut-out wall that El now simply kicked in, which, yeah, might not have been the best course of action but actually worked this time.

Turning back he found himself looking at an equally bright room that made him feel vaguely nauseous again once he spotted the only occupant of the room floating in a closed tank in the middle of the room. It was rather reminiscent of lab rats, just that James knew that this particular being was completely sentient (not that the thought of lab rats wasn't gut-churning enough). It wasn't helping either that the water wasn't clear but had some strange blueish hue that made him think of nutrient solutions.

Not sure whether she could understand him through the thick glass he pulled off his coat, leaving him with his MIB suit and the sunglasses he now slipped back in his breast pocket.

Whether she understood who he was, or only that he wasn't one of the scientists that had kept her prisoner, it made E'releen move up to the lid of the tank and tap again it as good as she could with her soft tentacles.

James nodded. "One moment", he said, holding up a hand in a “hold it”-motion, then turned back towards the guy El had talked to – the one in charge in this lab and so the one most likely to have the keys to the lock he had seen gleaming at the side of the – _there_. Clutching them in a sweaty fist he turned back towards the girl.

Absently he noticed that, while both of them had taken off their borrowed coats neither of his partners had made a step into the room. El actually look more freaked out than at any other time during this whole thing and he was reminded forcefully of the fact that yes, neither of them was good at people.

Well, at least they knew it.

Opening the lock took only a second, and then he pushed the lid off, leaving E'releen free to poke her head out and sling her tentacles over the side of the tank.

Not that she did. Instead she waited at the other side of the rank, obviously unsure and terrified what he might do to her.

The tank left her at around eye level with him, so he just took a step back to avoid her feeling crowded in before gentling his voice as much as possible and explaining: "We are here to help you, E'releen. You are safe now. My partners and I, we are from the MIB. Your parents called us in to find you and bring you back home." He wasn't sure but he thought he saw her relaxing a bit and so he continued, his tone still soft and coaxing: "I am Jay, and this are my partners Kay and El." Maybe he needed to prove his identity to her? Well, what better way than to share that anecdote that her parents were almost sure to have told her? "You probably don't remember me but we've met before. You were a really beautiful little girl, E'releen, when you were born. And you are still really beautiful." She _was_ – even exhausted and shivering in fear he could see her gleaming brown skin, and the jewel-like organs under her head that were shining like pearls and, if he remembered correctly, a sign of great beauty within her own race. Also – girls did like to be called beautiful, didn't they? Or was that just more bullshit he was supposed to buy into?

It didn't matter anyway, because E'releen had made her mind up. Slinking back into the tank she moved over to him, almost faster than he could stretch his hands out to give her tentacles something to cling to when she flung herself at him, and then he had an armful of wet, shivering squid pressed against his chest. Tentacles wrapped around his upper body and neck and one wound tight around his wrist, making it impossible for him to leave her.

Not that he intended to do so. Actually, feeling her terrified and vulnerable against his own body he wasn't sure he would ever let her go again. How could anyone kidnap and terrify a kid until she was reduced to ... well, this? How could they see her and not immediately regret every life choice that had let to them kidnapping her in the first place?

"Jay? We need to get going."

A shiver ran through E'releen at Kay's words, even though he had made it a point to keep his voice as gentle as possible. And he was right – the faster they went, the faster they could get E'releen back home to her parents.

Stroking his finger along her side on an attempt to calm her down again he explained, still softly – at this point he wasn't sure she even understood his words, though she would get the tone -: "Don't worry about Kay. He sounds like a rough old man, but he's actually a teddy bear." He didn't want to look at his partner right now, sure he would see dreaded promises in his gaze. "We just need to go now, to get you back home, okay? Just let me put on my glasses" Which he did, because they needed the neutralizer to get out of this building, "and then keep a hold on me. I'll bring you home."

E'releen's grip on him tightened even more, but not enough to be dangerous, so he simply looked up and nodded at his partners (and damn, but El had been right – Kay could use her as backup now that James himself was occupied with E'releen)

They had obviously already dealed with the scientists while he had been calming down the girl in his arms because they left the labs unhindered. Generous use of the neutralizer saw them down into the lobby, where El went to get her car so they didn't have to walk down the street with a still scared alien kid for all the world to see (though it was rather improbable that anyone would recognize her as such, given her octopus-like shape and size and the way she was squished to his chest, so he wasn't too worried about anyone taking pictures of them leaving the company with her out in the open. Even less since he had pulled his suit jacket around her to keep her warm and protect her).

The drive back was both the longest and shortest one of his life – he couldn't wait to get her back to her parents, and yet he barely noticed anything but the girl in his arms that had just calmed down enough by now to stop shivering. One tentacle had taken to slowly rub over several others and James' skin, too, and he returned it by keeping up a light stroking of the tentacle next to his hand and a litany of "Brave girl. Everything is good, now. You'll be home in just a few minutes more, and your parents will be there and you can call your friend, Jennifer. Shh, all is good."

Kay, riding shotgun next to El, was shooting him some weirded out looks but he ignored them.

Finally, they reached the house. When they pulled up on the kerb Redgie and Masag turned up in the door – MIB cars were rather distinctive if you had the right senses to feel the differences – and James encouraged E'releen to hide a bit more under his suit jacket. After all she had gone through he didn't want for her to have to be relocated just because someone got some rather strange pictures of the family.

It was still a bit of an ordeal to make her wait until they were inside before she flung herself from James and at her parents. There were tears in both their eyes and they were almost running him over in their hurry to hug their child. A strange energy run through them and he didn't need to be told to get out as fast as possible.

He barely made it back out before they both burst from their human forms and held her tight, giving her the comfort she quite obviously needed right now while James quietly closed the door behind them to ensure their privacy.

Staring at the closed door that couldn't really keep the noises of tears and joy in he said: "I want to get those bastards."

"Me, too." El looked a ready to commit murder herself.

"I called the Containment guys", Kay said. "But I don't think they'll mind too much when we help them."

They all shared a grim smile, then turned towards their car.

There were probably a lot of cases waiting for them – and, James would guess, still a deadly laser beam pointed at earth. But all of this could wait while they ensured that none of those bastards ever touched an innocent kid again.

  


Still, when he went to bed at the end of hs shift it wasn't the terrified look in the face of those bastards that had thought to hurt a little child and gotten caught. It wasn't the picture of the burning lab which he would treasure for the rest of his life.

What stayed with him was the feeling of warm, soft, trusting tentacles hugging him close. It was the look of gratitude in her parents' eyes. It was the feeling of having done something right, of having kept someone safe and done good.

And that was worth much more than anything else in this world.

  


  



End file.
